


Turtley Into You

by rebel_ren



Series: Drabbles Against Despair [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Meet-Cute, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23209474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_ren/pseuds/rebel_ren
Summary: Isabelle calls Alec out for being distracted, but who can blame him? Being on vacation just means there's nothing to distract him from that really hot guy he keeps seeing today.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Drabbles Against Despair [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666300
Comments: 10
Kudos: 147





	Turtley Into You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SmudleyKAM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmudleyKAM/gifts).



> Prompt (from the lovely Kaye): "Magnus and Alec meet trying to help a baby sea turtle get unsnarled from a piece of driftwood/seaweed so that it can get to the shoreline and into the water, and they totally bond over saving a life."
> 
> Well, once again, NOT A DRABBLE LOL, but hope you like it, friend!
> 
> (Also, I am not sure if baby sea turtles vs baby turtles of other kinds make different noises, but see [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPGHbmnhHpI) YT video for the turtle noise I referred to!)

"Alec, you're distracted  _ again, _ " Isabelle complains, kicking sand at him.

"Mm?" Alec says absently, looking up at her. When she glares at him, he flushes slightly and looks away.

The thing is, Isabelle isn't wrong. Alec knows he's been a bit distant today, but to be fair, he has a really valid reason.

-

Alec had first noticed him at the hotel this morning. 

Isabelle and Jace might like to sleep the day away on vacation, but Alec can't help waking up at the same time every day like clockwork. And from past experience, he knows he needs to eat something within an hour of waking up or he'll turn into what Isabelle calls 'grumpy cat Alec.'

So, Alec comes down for breakfast on his own, figuring that, by the time the others are up, it'll be brunch or lunch time and he'll be ready to eat again.

When he walks into the dining area, Alec practically stops in his tracks. There, sitting at one of the tables and chatting animatedly with a small group of people, sits the most gorgeous man Alec thought he'd ever seen. Maybe it's just the fact that Alec's coming out of the busy season at work with zero time off and far too much overtime. Maybe it's that he's been spending too much time with Jace in the past twenty-four hours, whose idea of being supportive is invariably to tell Alec to "get some, bro!" Or maybe...

Alec blinks. Nope. Nothing's changed. So maybe the man's just incredibly hot and beautiful.

Just then, the man throws his head back and laughs. It's a rich joyous sound that seems to run through his whole body and flow out of him, and Alec forgets how to breathe for a second before forcing himself to get moving, not wanting to seem like a fool or a creep.

As he passes the man's table, Alec can't help glancing at him (despite trying to act cool and unaffected). The man looks up and their gazes meet. The man smiles, warm and easy, and something in Alec's chest unknots, but then, one of the man's friends says something, drawing the man's attention away, and the moment breaks. 

Moments may be fragile, but not as fragile as Alec's heart feels just then. 

The sensation of hope is so tangible that Alec’s breath catches in his throat. He makes himself a cup of coffee, taking comfort in the simple, repetitive movements, then grabs random food items and finds himself a seat far away from the beautiful man. Between his busy schedule and nonexistent social life, it’s just been so long since Alec’s felt anything like this, and he feels utterly unprepared for it, especially when his last relationship didn’t end very well.

Alec tries to tell himself it’s just that he hasn’t let himself take a vacation in so long. It’s just that he hasn’t  _ relaxed  _ in… probably half a year or more. (Definitely more, Alec hears Isabelle’s voice saying firmly in the back of his mind.)

Still, Alec’s mind and eyes keep straying to the man, and surely they’re betraying him, because Alec gets the feeling the man might be looking  _ back. _ There’s even a (terrifying, thrilling) moment when Alec thinks the man might be coming in his direction, but it turns out he’s just getting waffles for himself and his friends. Alec tries to tell himself he’s not disappointed, but as he looks down to see that he’s just poured orange juice into his cereal... he’s not sure it’s the truth.

He’s relieved when his siblings plop down across from him, Jace all sleepy-eyed and Isabelle only quiet until the coffee hits her system. At least now he has plenty of distractions from Mr. Beautiful over there, Alec thinks.

Except… Mr. Beautiful seems to be wherever they go. The boardwalk, the fair, the arcade. He and his friends are even at the kitschy touristy shop, leaving as Jace drags them into the shop to buy an airbrushed t-shirt as a souvenir.

So, by the time they actually gather up their things and make their way down to the beach, Alec is  _ very _ ready for some peace and quiet. He’s ready to stop being surprised and amazed by the man’s beautiful eyes, his easy smile, his incredible  _ muscles. _ As they set up umbrellas and get settled, Alec looks around a few times, both relieved and disappointed not to see the man or his friends.

-

“Okay, yes,” Alec admits to Isabelle. “I’ve been distracted.”

“No thinking about work! Work stays at home!” she says, frowning at him as she reminds him of his siblings’ mantras for him on this trip.

Alec chuckles. “Okay, okay,” he says, putting up his hands in surrender. If he’s going to leave work behind, he may as well leave behind thoughts of hot men he meets on holiday and never sees again.

The next hour goes by relatively peacefully, apart from Jace’s inevitable pranks and Alec’s equally inevitable retaliations, which result in them both getting tired out and absolutely  _ covered _ in sand. As fun as it is, it’s not the most wonderful feeling having sand in  _ all  _ the places he now has sand, so Alec runs down to the water to rinse off.

He’s hot and sweaty and the cool water feels incredible, so he ends up taking his time, floating around in the deeper water for a while, taking some time for himself to just… breathe and  _ be. _

When Alec raises his head, he’s drifted a bit further down the beach than he’d realised. Their umbrella is a distant blob of purple, and Alec’s about to start swimming back in that direction when he hears something: a pitiful little chirping sound coming from a small cove further down the shoreline. He strikes out towards the cove, running up the beach and rounding a rocky corner as he follows the noise, only to stop dead in his tracks.

It’s the man. Well, okay. It’s not the man making the  _ noise,  _ but the man is right there in front of him, his hands full of a struggling baby sea turtle who seems to have some kind of fishing line or plastic tangled around its flippers.

The man looks up, and Alec swallows as their eyes lock once more.

“It’s you,” the man says, his voice as soft as it is surprised. “I should’ve known it’d be you.”

Alec… has no idea what to make of that, but he’s not sure he’s quite remembered how to breathe yet, entirely floored by the man’s presence and apparent recognition of him. So instead, he nods dumbly and kneels in front of the man because, no matter whether anything else makes sense, it’s clear the man needs more hands than he has to accomplish this task.

Together, they unwind the mess of string and plastic and seaweed from the little reptile’s shell and flippers in a complicated process that oddly reminds Alec of untangling Isabelle’s necklaces growing up, except with the necklaces flailing and making heartrending  _ cheep cheep _ sounds the entire time.

When the last bit of trash comes away from the turtle’s body, Alec spends a moment longer checking to be sure there aren’t any bits of cord they’ve missed, then looks up at the other man with a broad, beaming grin, proud of what they’ve accomplished.

Mr. Beautiful is looking at him, not the baby turtle, a beautiful smile on his beautiful face, and Alec forgets for a split second about everything else in the world.

And then the turtle squirms in their grasp, and Alec laughs sheepishly and clears his throat.. “We, uh… should probably let our little friend go,” he says, letting go now that the other man doesn’t really need his help to keep hold of the turtle.

The man nods. “Yeah,” he says. He gets up and heads toward the water with Alec at his side. The tide’s going out, leaving a blank expanse of dark, wet sand. The man kneels, and Alec kneels at his side as the man releases his hold on the turtle. They watch together in silence as the little creature flounders for a moment, then Alec can feel the joy that builds in both of them as the turtle finds its way to the water, its chirping sounds taking on an excited quality, and swims away.

It’s not until the turtle is fading into a dot in the distance, that Alec lets out the breath he’s been holding, and he feels the man beside him doing the same.

“Well, they say if you love them, let them go,” the man says with a sigh, and Alec laughs.

The man turns to him, and Alec doesn’t know what to say.

“Thank you…” he says softly. Though he doesn’t know what he’s thanking the man for, he is grateful.

“Thank  _ you, _ ” the man says, then shakes his head a little. “Sorry,” he says. “This is ridiculous. I’ve been seeing you and your friends all day and… wanting to know who you were since breakfast…”

Alec flushes a little, his heart pounding with excitement. Mr. Beautiful  _ noticed _ him just as much!

“Me too,” he says, sounding kind of breathless. It’s because he genuinely can’t seem to get enough air in his lungs, but he  _ hopes  _ it across as flirty instead.

The man laughs. “Well, then. Enough missed opportunities,” he says, holding out his hand. “Magnus Bane.”

Alec takes the man’s -  _ Magnus’  _ \- hand. “Alec Lightwood,” he replies, smiling into those beautiful brown eyes.

-

By dinner, Alec’s siblings and Magnus’ friends have merged into one boisterous, friendly group. Even better, Alec’s learned that Magnus lives in NYC too, and they’ve already made plans for a proper date once they get home. 

“Best. Vacation. Ever,” Alec whispers to Magnus, who throws back his head and laughs.

“Agreed,” Magnus whispers, smiling back and squeezing Alec’s hand under the table.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to prompt me here or on twitter! :)


End file.
